Alternative land line phone connections,,,

knockbill

Lunatic Member
any experience to share? I've heard of VoIP connection companies with less than stellar service,,, are there any others you can recommend? I have a Verizon double play now IP + phone(land line), however it seems the phone is 2/3s the cost of it... Looking to see if its feasible/possible to get alternative phone service, without spending big bux for cell/data phone + service...
Thanks
 
We eliminated our land line, but ported the number to a local VoIP provider. Calls go to their voicemail platform, and we both get emails when someone has left a message. The vm recording is embedded in the email notification, along with Caller ID info, date and time.

Cost is $5 per month. This allows us to still have a "home" number, without the cost. BTW, we could also get text notifications of messages, but chose not to....95% of calls to that number are telemarketing.
 
And there is the problem,,, damn telemarketing jams up answering machines,,, I just want to have a "dial tone" as we called it years ago,,, I'd use the phone for outgoing calls, leave it off the hook unless I made a call... eliminates crap calls...
 
I've had the same landline for years now and had that "upgraded" to what passes for AT&T U-Verse here. No fiber optics available in the area, so it's pretty much a sanitized version of their DSL connection. Can't complain, as it's a whole lot better than the MiFi wireless repeater I'd been using. I can watch a movie on Amazon Prime earlier with no dropouts anyway. More than likely because I'm probably one of the last DSL customers on the line, so there's no competition for bandwidth.

One complaint - all my "classic" phones stopped working after the change. I ended up going with a new wireless DECT6 digital system here that works well and was surprisingly inexpensive. One problem is that if the power goes out, I now also lose the phones, but I suppose I have a cell for backup, so ok there.
 
I haven't had a landline since 2003. For my cell service, I signed up for a Google Voice number when they were first offered, and I am still using it to this day as my primary number. (I do not give out my "real" cell number that I use with Google Fi, so I can change carriers and not worry about them owning my number, like the shit Verizon pulled on me years ago.) I also have a couple other Google Voice numbers for business usage. There are a couple of ways I can use the number but for now, I use the Google Hangouts dialer if I need to make the rare phone call.

But how does that translate to home use? There is an adapter out there that will connect to the Internet and give you a VoIP connection that you can plug a phone or fax into, which works with a Google Voice account. It is available in both 1- and 2-port versions. Google Voice is free, no monthly charge, no extra fees for calls unless they are overseas (US/Canada are all free calls). I've liked their spam filtering and call blocking features, and voice mail can be read online (it will translate speech to text) if one chooses.

I realize it's not for everyone, but it has worked well for many years with me. It's just another option to consider.
 
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